


Alexander the Great and the Arabian Peninsula

by tonia_barone



Category: Historical RPF
Genre: Alexander's non-existent Arabian campaign, Gen, Historical, Historical Inaccuracy, What-If
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-21
Updated: 2017-09-21
Packaged: 2019-01-03 19:54:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,908
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12153675
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/tonia_barone/pseuds/tonia_barone
Summary: What if Alexander hadn't died in 323, and instead went on his planned campaign against the Arabs?





	Alexander the Great and the Arabian Peninsula

**Author's Note:**

> I had an assignment for my History class that basically said: What would the next five years for Alexander be like if he had lived?
> 
> He doesn't make it to five years in this fic, I'll say that now. I may have been overly harsh with him. All place names are as historically accurate as I could make them, and the travel times runs on the theory that a large army can march 10 miles a day.
> 
> EDIT: It's been pointed out to me that this comes across very try and book reportish. That's probably because I was trying a different style of writing, and attempting to emulate my textbook. 
> 
> Enjoy.

Alexander and his forces returned to Babylon in the spring of 323.  His Macedonian troops, deeply demoralized by the long campaign, longed for a homeland they hadn’t seen in over a decade.  His Iranian troops, meanwhile, were still fresh and ready for conquest.  After a few months spent in Babylon to rest and resupply, Alexander freed his Macedonian men from their commission and sent them home to their families.  Though officially he was sending them home to keep his growing kingdom in line, it was known by his generals that Alexander released the Macedonian men because of growing unrest amongst them.

At the start of June 323, after a short illness, Alexander took his mostly Iranian army and trekked to the south to Basra, which was quick to cede to Alexander’s army.  He left a few of his officials to handle the affairs of the city then moved south along an old incense trade route.  A little over two months later they reached the capital city of Gerrha.  There, Alexander found many riches, but he also found a city walled against invaders.  Alexander wanted this city, however, so he laid siege to Gerrha.  Two arduous months later, the walls fell to Alexander’s forces and he sacked the city.  The men were executed, and the women and children sold into slavery.  The riches of the city he passed around to his men then sent the rest back to Babylon to be distributed among his officials across the empire.

Alexander learned from the locals that there were riches further southwest, so he stocked up on as much water and provisions as his men and their pack animals could haul.  Thus prepared, he set out across the desert towards a city that would become modern day Riyadh.  However, for his entire military prowess, Alexander underestimated how harsh the Saudi deserts were.  He lost over 2,000 men and their families to the heat over the following month’s trek to the trading outpost they’d heard about.  Though his Iranian army was used to the heat, they had never encountered a heat like this.  A full two thirds of his army suffered from the effects of heat exhaustion by the time they reached the site of Riyadh in mid-September.  Even so far south, the Arabs had heard of Alexander’s conquest of the known world and they were ready for him.

The ensuing battle was a long, bloody one.  The native army was used to fighting in the extreme climate of the desert.  With temperatures easily reaching 100°F, even in their lightweight linothorax armor many in Alexander’s army found themselves falling not to an enemy blade, but to heat stroke.  At the end of the battle three days later, Alexander stood victorious, but it was a bitter victory.  When he entered the Arabian Peninsula, Alexander’s forces were easily 13,000 strong, including over 10,000 armed soldiers and 3,000 support staff and the soldier’s families.  He lost over 2,000 just on the trek to this city, and in the battle he lost an additional 5,000 soldiers to either the heat or the enemy army.  The only reason his army won the battle was because of overwhelming numbers.  Whether Alexander ever admitted to it or not is unknown, but what is known is that he took everything of value from the city and razed it to the ground.  Nothing living survived his anger at the heavy losses he suffered.  Battle-weary and worn from the march through the desert, Alexander led his army southwest towards Al-Ukhdood, modern day Najran.

The following two and a half months were rough on Alexander and his dwindling army.  Though Alexander sent scouts out to forage for supplies, rarely did they come back with anything other than disappointment.  He lost nearly half of his remaining forces before they made it to Qaryat Dhu Kahl in early December 323.  Just over 3,500 people fell upon the small oasis trade town like a horde of locust.  Qaryat Dhu Kahl was famous in the region for its 17 water wells, and Alexander’s troops drained five of them dry in the first two days they were there.  Alexander didn’t bother trying to win over the locals.  He was exhausted, his mental faculties—already beginning to fail him before the Arabian campaign—had deteriorated to a dangerous degree during the previous six months.  He was convinced that the locals were trying to kill him and his men; he wasn’t exactly wrong.

The people of the desert had taken word of Alexander’s conquest of Persia and India with them along the trade routes months before Alexander even set foot in the Arab Peninsula.  They were not a people who would be easily beaten, and they made certain that to their last man and woman that they made life as difficult for Alexander as possible.  This included neglecting to pass along vital information as to the location of oasis locations along the trade routes.  Not to say that Alexander and his men didn’t occasional stumble across a few, but because of this united effort to withhold information, Alexander’s army were not nearly as well prepared for the desert as they should have been.

Alexander didn’t slaughter the entire town, but he may as well have: he and his men took every resource of value from the local people, including all the food they could carry, draining another two wells for the rest of the journey to Al-Ukhdood, and all the camels that were in the city to carry it all.  This wasn’t the first time they had claimed camels for their march, but it was the first time they’d found them in such great numbers; Alexander’s men took nearly 100 of the beasts from Qaryat Dhu Kahl.  This was a great find for them, because worst came to worst, they could slaughter the animals for their meat when food supplies ran scarce.

Two and a half weeks later Alexander finally laid eyes on Al-Ukhdood.  It was late December now and though temperatures along their journey in the last couple of months had dropped significantly from an average of 100°F to 75°F, they were all weary from the harsh travel.  During the last months there had been talk of mutiny among the men, especially those who still had families with them, but their isolation in the grueling desert kept them loyal to Alexander for now.  Al-Ukhdood was a moderately large trade city, a hub for the area, and as such they did not look kindly on the army approaching their gates.

Alexander led his 2,000 soldiers into battle against the city’s defenses.  Having refreshed themselves at Qaruat Dhu Kahl had improved their morale enough that Alexander’s army had their first clear victory since they crossed the vast desert of the Arab Peninsula.  With only 200 men lost compared to nearly 800 of the local army, Alexander stormed through the defenses and raided the Al-Ukhdood.  Despite the population of the city exceeding 5,000, they were no match for an army of nearly 2,300 trained and desperate soldiers.  After executing all the surviving men, and plundering what they could from the remaining women, Alexander’s forces settled in for a small, but much needed respite.

Al-Ukhdood was well supplied and Alexander allowed his army a month there to rest and regain their focus.  Better prepared for the journey ahead, they started north.  One of Alexander’s remaining generals had heard some of the locals mention that the edges of a vast body of water was to the west, over the mountains, so that’s where they headed first.  Alexander couldn’t fault that the belief that the breezes off the waters might be a relief on heated skin, nor the hope that it was a lake and not a sea to their west. 

Unfortunately for Alexander and his men, the body of water was a sea, not a lake.  Even still, the sight of something so different from the drab browns and beiges of the desert was a welcome change.  Finally, it seemed that Alexander’s army had caught a break.  The two month trek up the coast of the sea saw only mild illnesses, but no fatalities.  They came across Jeddah feeling relatively refreshed and took the coastal city in half a day with minimal casualties, despite the temperatures once more rising to intolerable levels with the coming of spring.  A brief rest to resupply and they followed the trade path inland to the city of Medina.

Medina was finally a city Alexander had heard of, long ago in his campaign in Gaza.  Being so close to something so familiar renewed Alexander in his determination and though he lost an additional 200 souls on the trek to Medina, he knew in his heart that his god-father, Ammon meant this as a sign of glad tidings.  He was wrong.

Medina’s military was well-trained in the art of warfare.  Being such a hub for trade on the edge of three separate civilizations had given them an appreciation for a well-rounded military.  Alexander’s forces were met headon by a military force nearly equal to their own.  It was a difficult battle, but at the end of the day Alexander’s army won.  Unlike with previous conquests in the Arab Peninsula, Alexander left Medina mostly intact.  They stocked up on what provisions they needed, he left a few of his remaining officials in charge, and led his troops northward towards Gaza and with it familiar territory.

They next city in their journey was Ma’an, located in modern day Jordan.  It was a modest city and though they didn’t exactly welcome Alexander with open arms, they didn’t fight him, either.  In familiar lands once more, Alexander made offerings to Ammon and the local gods to thank them for getting him through such a difficult campaign, then set off for Babylon by way of Damascus. 

They arrived in Damascus in late May of 322 BCE.  Alexander allowed his army, barely 2,000 of the 13,000 he’d started out with, to rest within the familiar walls of one of his cities while he had his officials find him more men to boost his army.  They remained in Damascus for just over two weeks, and set off on the nearly two month trek to Babylon.

Just over a year after he set out, Alexander steps once more into Babylon.  His Iranian army is glad to be home.  The road over the last year hasn’t been kind to Alexander.  Though only a year, the journey through the Arab Peninsula was a trying one.  Alexander, already beginning to become paranoid and narcissistic before he left, was convinced after only a few days that his senior official in charge of Babylon was plotting against him.  He tried to recall his army to him, but after the harsh treatment of the past year, they abandoned him. 

Alexander still had sway in the city, but reports from his surviving generals convinced the city government that Alexander was no longer fit to rule.  In a bold coup, they captured Alexander and locked him in his rooms at the palace while they debated what to do with him.  Many thought he should just be put to death, but others thought exile would be a better solution.  In the end it didn’t matter, because Alexander, in his dementia, attempted to scale down from his window and fell to his ignoble death. 

**Author's Note:**

> If Alexander's treatment of the natives seemed a bit harsh, I'd like to remind everyone that he was starting to go insane when he died. He was slowly turning into a tyrant, particularly after his best friend (*coughlovercough*) died in 324. I ran with the premise that he was a bit unhinged.


End file.
